A Completely Automated Public Turing test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart (“CAPTCHA”) is a challenge-response test used in computing to verify that a response is provided by a human being rather than a computer. CAPTCHAs typically include one or more characters that have been distorted in some manner so as to make it difficult or in some cases impossible for a computer to provide the correct response. Common forms of distortion include introducing noise, creating a distorted background, warping characters, waving characters, crowding characters, and using strikethrough lines.
Websites often use CAPTCHAs as a layer of security to prevent potentially malicious activity from automated programs, such as “bots.” For example, an automated program may be configured to add spam, such as unwanted advertisements, to a Website, or provide false information into online forms. Other automated programs may force repeated requests to servers that may cause the servers to slow down or even fail, for example.
CAPTCHAs are becoming increasingly more difficult for human beings to solve. This is at least in part due to advancements in artificial intelligence that have made it possible for computers to solve CAPTCHAs that rely on simple distortion techniques such as those described above. In an effort to reduce the solvability of CAPTCHAs, the techniques used to obscure characters for CAPTCHAs are becoming increasingly more complex, often to the point of being unreadable or marginally-readable by human beings. This may frustrate users and may even deter some users from using a Website or service that utilizes CAPTCHAs.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.